November ballot measure would allow major El Camino College upgrade

A construction bond measure on the Nov. 6 ballot would enable El Camino College to replace or renovate about half of the buildings on campus - including the football stadium, which would be torn down and rebuilt.

If approved by South Bay voters, Measure E would borrow about $350 million to upgrade the segments of the Torrance-area campus that construction crews couldn't get to after the passage of a similar bond measure about a decade ago.

"This is for the students of the future," El Camino spokeswoman Ann Garten said. "Many of the students that would benefit are currently in elementary or middle school."

Passage of Measure E would add $7 per $100,000 assessed value on top of the $17 already paid by area taxpayers for the 2002 bond measure. The cost to the average property owner would increase from the current $51 a year to $72.

Most of the projects from the $394 million facilities bond in 2002 are either newly finished or will soon come online.

Measure E is just one of several school-related tax-hike requests that voters in this area will face in November.

For instance, they'll help issue a verdict on two statewide initiatives - Propositions 30 and 38 - that would raise taxes for the benefit of schools. And, in an unusual undertaking, voters in Lawndale, Hawthorne, Lennox and the west Hawthorne-area neighborhoods that make up the tiny Wiseburn school district will decide whether to approve a region-wide parcel tax that would benefit their K-12 schools.

Not only would Murdock Stadium be replaced with bond proceeds, but Measure E would provide funds to upgrade classrooms, labs, lecture halls, and instructional equipment, as well as make health and safety repairs and energy-efficiency improvements, college officials say.

"Many of our buildings and facilities are more than 50 years old now, some are nearly 65 years old," said El Camino President Thomas Fallo. "They have been well-maintained, but, like any structures of that age, they need repairs and renovations."

The El Camino Board of Trustees decided to put the item on the ballot in mid-July, but the school's administration issued a press release last week to coincide with the beginning of the fall term.

Although the bond measure would tax businesses as well as residents, it was endorsed last week by the South Bay Association of Chambers of Commerce, which represents 53,000 businesses in the area, Garten said.

But the ballot measure did not receive unanimous approval on the El Camino board. Casting the lone dissenting vote on July 16 was Trustee Maureen O'Donnell. Reached at home, O'Donnell said she's skeptical about the idea of borrowing money to erect new buildings at a time when community colleges lack sufficient funds to staff them.

"We're not building these buildings or making improvements for next year, we're looking down the road 15, 20, 25 years," he said. "Think about it: With the 2002 bond, some of the projects are just coming online. ... So we expect 10 years from now, when we're halfway through spending the new bond money, we'll be back in a climate where we're looking at expanding enrollment (and staffing) again."

A poll conducted in May suggests that Measure E could be a success. The bond measure needs just 55 percent approval to pass, but 68 percent of the likely voters surveyed said they'd support it, Garten said.

If the tax hike is approved, the football team would have to find another field to call home during the 2013 season. (The college is currently in negotiations with an area high school, though the administration declined to identify which one.) The new stadium would replace a 60-year-old facility that, unlike most of its contemporaries, is not encircled by a track.

Improvements also call for replacing the music building, student activities center and arts-and-behavioral-sciences structure, as well as renovating the student library and Marsee Auditorium.

They would enhance classroom space and training for future nurses, firefighters, and other first responders, as well as improve educational resources for students who are veterans, college officials say.

Officials insist that energy-efficiency improvements from the 2002 bond measure are already saving the college $100,000 each year. They say the current initiative would lead to an additional savings of $260,000 annually.

By law, funds from facility bond measures can only be spent on buildings, classrooms or instructional equipment. No bond funds can be spent on administrator pensions or salaries.

Voters in the El Camino College Community College District include residents of El Segundo, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lennox, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, and Torrance.